THE race for 10 Downing Street may be the topic on most people's minds this week, but residents in six Surrey boroughs and districts will also have the chance to cast their vote in local council elections on Thursday.

Fourteen wards are up for re-election on Tandridge District Council .

Nine Conservative councillors will be hoping to retain their seats on the Tory-run local authority, but at least three wards will definitely see a new face elected.

One of the most fascinating battles promises to be in Burstow, Horne and Outwood, where a former Tory councillor is striking out on his own.

Peter Brown was the area's Conservative representative on the council for 14 years before he was ousted in favour of Peter Bond.

Now Mr Brown will stand as an Independent candidate in a five-way contest.

Westway ward will have a new councillor after Thursday’s election.

Conservative Ros Langham is being replaced by Eithne Webster, who will run against Liberal Democrat Jean Pigeon, Labour’s Jonathan Wheale and Helena Windsor, who will also be standing in the general election for UKIP in the East Surrey seat.

Voters in Limpsfield will also be electing a new face, with John Pannett standing for the Conservatives in place of the incumbent councillor, Eric Morgan.

In Queens Park ward, Rod Stead is the Tory candidate taking over from Matthew Groves.

Former council chairman Tony Elias will be bidding to win his third election in Bletchingley and Nutfield, while in Whyteleafe former Lib Dem Sakina Bradbury is standing again for the Conservatives after she defected in 2008.

David Weightman, standing again for the Tories in Oxted North, is one of the longest serving councillors up for re-election, having been a member since 1994.

Simon Morrow will be bidding to keep hold of Warlingham West for the Liberal Democrats, who hope to make gains with a candidate in each of the other 13 wards.

UKIP are also fielding a candidate in every ward, while the Green Party is targeting success with Benedict Southworth (Oxted North) and Michaela O’Brien (Oxted South).

Labour has eight people standing in the local election. For a full list of Tandridge candidates,click here.

The political landscape could be set to change in Conservative-controlled Reigate and Banstead on Thursday, with 17 wards up for election.

The biggest shift could come in Redhill East, where all three council seats will be contested.

The death of Frank Moore in December last year, and Daniel Poulter’s decision to seek election as an MP in North Ipswich and Central Suffolk, means two seats will have new councillors.

Conservative Ros Miah is seeking re-election in the third Redhill East seat, and is one of 11 candidates from five parties hoping for victory there.

Green Party candidate Jonathan Essex, also standing in the general election, has high hopes in Redhill East after he lost to Frank Moore by just 20 votes in 2008.

Meanwhile, a former soldier who hit the headlines last year after handing in an abandoned sawn-off shotgun at a police station is standing for election in Merstham.

Paul Clarke, who received a suspended sentence for possession of the weapon in December, is the UKIP candidate hoping to unseat Tory councillor Graeme Crome.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage was among a band of supporters who backed Mr Clarke in his court battle.

Steve Kulka is seeking re-election for the Liberal Democrats in Meadvale and St John’s, while Horley East has two new candidates.

Two councillors from outside the main political parties are also hoping to keep their seats.

In Nork, Brian Stead, for Nork Residents’ Association, will be competing against Conservative and UKIP candidates, while in Tattenhams, Bob Harper (Tattenham Residents’ Association) is in a two-way fight with Tory Pauline Tweedale.

In Mole Valley , the chairman and vice-chairman of the district council, the leader of the opposition and 11 UKIP candidates will be hoping to be elected or re-elected as councillors.

Out of the 41 councillors in office since the last local elections in May 2008, 22 have represented the controlling Conservatives, with 14 Liberal Democrat members, three from Ashtead Independent Group and two from Leatherhead Independent Group.

Of the positions up for grabs this week, nine have been held by the Conservatives, four by Liberal Democrats and one by Ashtead Independent Group’s John Northcott, vice-chairman of the council, who faces Tory and UKIP opposition in Ashtead Common ward.

Tim Hall, a familiar face at events around the district as chairman of the council, is hoping to win again with the Conservatives in Fetcham West, where he will face competition from Lib Dem Raj Haque.

Others standing include Rob Sedgwick, who is also the first Green Party parliamentary candidate in Mole Valley. He is hoping to win in Dorking North, as are Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and UKIP’s Afonso Afonso.

Votes will also be cast for candidates in Ashtead Park, Ashtead Village, Bookham North and South, as well as Brockham, Betchworth and Buckland, Capel, Leigh and Newdigate, Fetcham East, Holmwoods and Leatherhead North and South.

The future of public toilets, car park charges and the green belt are among the issues at stake in Elmbridge .

Voters are going to the polls to choose their representatives for a third of the borough council.

The ruling Tories currently have a majority of four seats on the 60-member council, with residents’ associations holding 21 and the Liberal Democrats seven.

The Conservatives are highlighting their record of having delivered a freeze in council tax for three out of the past four years.

They also point out that they have planted 17,000 daffodil bulbs in grassy areas across the borough.

The Residents Group wants to protect community halls, public toilets and car parks and cut the level of allowances paid to councillors.

It also believes Elmbridge should me made a unitary authority and take responsibility for roads from the county council.

Liberal Democrat candidates are pressing the green agenda and promise to maintain drains to protect against flooding, and also to put pressure on Tory-controlled Surrey County Council to repair potholes.

The Labour Party is hoping to return to the council chamber, with candidates looking to increase the stock of affordable housing and opposing development of the Walton swimming pool site.

The Official Monster Raving Loony Party is standing in the three Molesey wards and was holding a victory party at the Poyntz Arms pub on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Conservative Party in Elmbridge has been warned over a potentially misleading claim in its local election literature.

Returning officer and Elmbridge chief executive Rob Moran has spoken to the party and offered "alternative wording" after it was stated in the manifesto that the Tory-run council had been awarded "a top three-star rating" by the Audit Commission – when the highest score is in fact four stars.

Conservative group leader Roy Taylor pointed out that the claim referred to "a" top rating, rather than "the" top rating - which he argued was extremely difficult to achieve.

In Woking , the leader of the borough council's seat is also set to be hotly contested, with three other candidates going up against the Conservatives' John Kingsbury in St Johns and Hook Heath.

The other wards up for election in Woking are Maybury and Sheerwater, Goldsworth East, Mount Hermon East, Horsell West, Goldsworth West, West Byfleet, Hermitage and Knaphill South, Byfleet, Knaphill, Mount Hermon West and Mayford and Sutton Green.

Woking Borough Council is comprised of 36 councillors. The authority is elected by thirds so a total of 12 seats are up for grabs on Thursday.